Apple’s patent suggests iTunes media gifting via NFC

While NFC has been making its way onto other phones, Apple’s iPhone has yet to see the inclusion of the technology into their products, but that’s not to say that the Cupertino company did not explore that option in the past. A recently discovered patent by the folks at Patently Apple have revealed that Apple at one point in time were considering using NFC technology in their iPhones. While NFC has primarily been the focus of mobile payment services, the patent shows Apple considering NFC as a means for iPhone users to gift another iPhone owner a song simply by tapping phones together.

According to the patent, it works similarly to how you would normally purchase a song or a gift card on iTunes, except that in this case users will be able to tap phones together and the person receiving the gift will be able to start downloading the song/video automatically. The patent also shows how this gift process could also be sent to the giftee via email where they would then receive the appropriate license to retrieve their gifted media. We’re not sure if this technology is necessary considering that gift cards already exist, but the idea of tapping phones does seem to be a little bit more efficient.